What Happened on September 24th

Honeywell, a company that joined the early foray into the computer industry but had faded from prominence by the mid-1980s, announced it was beginning discussions of a merger of its computer operations with the Japanese firm NEC and France's Groupe Bull. Analysts saw the move as part of a trend of consolidation in the industry prompted in part by IBM's control of more than half the market. Honeywell had experienced a 37-percent drop in its first half 1986 earnings.